Joyce

It was on this day in 1900 that 18-year-old student James Joyce(books by this author) presented his lecture "Drama and Life" to the Literary and Historical Society of Dublin. Joyce was worried about the speech, which he'd written 10 days before. It was full of controversial ideas, it was long, and he feared it would go over the heads of his audience, whose respect was very important to him. His anxiety showed, and he read it without much enthusiasm - he discussed the merits of literature as an art form, dismissed Shakespeare as passé, and praised the writer Henrik Ibsen, who at the time was considered amoral and unworthy of attention, let alone praise. His fears were well founded: the college president threatened to ban the paper, and his peers railed him with challenges and arguments afterward. One of Joyce's friends wrote about what happened next: "Joyce rose to reply at about 10 o'clock, when the bell was ringing on the landing outside to signal that it was time to wind up the proceedings. He spoke without a note for at least 30 minutes and dealt with each of his critics in turn. It was a masterly performance and delivered to the accompaniment of rounds of applause from the back benches."